Apologies if this post is in the wrong forum (the whole Movie Heroes, Clone Wars, Shadows of the Darkside delineation for vehicles have me seriously confused) or if there is already a thread for the MTT (though I swear I did look) but I received the holiday coupon book from TRU today which included a coupon for $50 off the MTT valid until 10/28 - 11/21. In the event that people haven't picked this one up yet, like myself, November may be a good time to do it.

Mr. JabbaJohnL

10-24-2012, 11:07 PM

It SOUNDS like a good deal - until you realize that TRU has the MTT for $180 while Walmart has it for $130, effectively rendering the coupon worthless.

I bought it at a Walmart about two months ago, and I really like it.

This photo shows it next to an AAT for scale (along with a view of part of my OT shelves).
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Here's the droid racks with the limited-articulation figures replaced by folded-up TVC droids. Even though I had to take off their backpacks to fit them in, they look pretty awesome in there.
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The racks have standard foot pegs that attach to the included figures' bases, but they also fit regular figures.

Here is a comparison shot - left to right are one of the four included droids with five points of articulation, one of the 20 included droids with two points of articulation (head and right arm), and a TVC droid.
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It looks like they were all based on the same digital sculpt, though their necks appear longer and they don't have any paint aside from the eyes. The included droids don't have backpacks, but their blasters attach to their backs. They certainly wouldn't pass in the basic line, but having 20 of them lined up looks pretty cool for some instant army building.

The biggest feature of the MTT is, of course, the droid deployment. When a button is pushed, the rack comes out slowly and it plays the sound effect from TPM, sometimes followed by a random piece of droid dialogue (using the nasal ROTS/TCW voice instead of the deeper TPM/AOTC one). The mechanism is timed perfectly, I think due to the audio repeating until it is fully deployed, then playing the descending sound when the rack splits apart to drop the droids to the side. The only issue is that I have to hold the sides together for a second while it's going back in to the ship (which is also done with a button, not manually) so it doesn't bump the sides and get stuck, which really isn't an issue at all. The included droids look cool in there, but I do prefer the TVC ones in there instead, though I doubt everyone has bought 26 of them like I have, so just deal with what you got. :p

Aside from that, it's not as feature-packed as some of the other Class III vehicles have been. The top opens up to reveal a three-seat cockpit, and the opening part has two fold-out missile launchers and space for a droid to stand and peek through a view port. The big empty opening space at the top of the back can be a pain to open and doesn't currently offer anything aside from storage (or a hiding spot); the upcoming Class I ship fits in there, and I have to wonder if it was designed to be included but dropped for cost reasons. The rolling wheels are pretty slick and give it more of a battering ram feel, as though it could punch through Republic lines and drop a bunch of droids into battle, so it has pretty good play value in that regard.

I almost forgot about the Obi-Wan figure, but he's pretty forgettable. It's a repack of the 2006 TSC figure, which was kitbashed from a few different figures from 1999 and 2000, but he doesn't include anything aside from a lightsaber. They didn't really need to include him, and he doesn't really add anything to the set, but if you somehow missed one of the 87 million TPM Obi-Wan figures they've released (most of them this year alone), then he's fine, I guess.

Overall, it does what it's meant to do quite well - it's just not meant to do as much as the Millennium Falcon or the AT-AT. I like it better than the Turbo Tank and Republic Attack Shuttle, and it's probably on par with the AT-TE. It would have been much better at $100, but at $130 it's pretty fun. At $180 . . . well, just remember to take that coupon with you.

JediTricks

10-25-2012, 02:07 PM

I would guess your pics are rotated because you shot them on a camera that doesn't auto-rotate the image file, instead including a rotation orientation companion file or EXIF setting that tells your computer to display them rotated without changing the actual orientation of the image.

Thanks for the details on this piece.

Why won't their backpacks fit? The head is supposed to be folded down but obviously Hasbro couldn't include that joint, however it does telescope in, and the hinged ankles should make repositioning the figure forward possible (currently you have them displayed as if they were bent down like a human). Is this a limitation on the MTT or the figure? Not including the folded up potential for the droids is what ultimately killed my interest in this vehicle.

I would rather they have a separate button for voice than to include it in the main gimmick's sounds.

They confirmed that the Class I droid/vehicle was indeed designed as part of the MTT and then moved to that line due to cost.

The TVC Battle Droid looks way different from the MTT versions, which are surprisingly identical to each other.

Mr. JabbaJohnL

10-25-2012, 09:51 PM

I would guess your pics are rotated because you shot them on a camera that doesn't auto-rotate the image file, instead including a rotation orientation companion file or EXIF setting that tells your computer to display them rotated without changing the actual orientation of the image.
Ah, I shot them on my phone so that must be it. I've fixed them now.

Why won't their backpacks fit? The head is supposed to be folded down but obviously Hasbro couldn't include that joint, however it does telescope in, and the hinged ankles should make repositioning the figure forward possible (currently you have them displayed as if they were bent down like a human). Is this a limitation on the MTT or the figure? Not including the folded up potential for the droids is what ultimately killed my interest in this vehicle.
The figures could normally have the backpacks on while their necks are lowered, and the figures in the photo do have their necks lowered, though not 100% since that causes the heads to point forward and I wanted to have them facing a little bit downward. I'm not quite sure what you mean about the ankles - I can't swing their pelvises forward due to the leg design and how the thigh interacts with the shin, and their feet are where they are due to the pegs being there. I guess I could swing them back using their ankles as pivot points, keeping their feet where they are but rotating them a bit, but the space factor would still be an issue. As you can see in the photo, they're pretty squished in there due to rack's length, so adding the backpacks is just not gonna happen due to the space. The only droids I could possibly fit the backpacks on are the ones at the back of each group of four - there just isn't space between the others, no matter how I position them (unless they're standing).

I would rather they have a separate button for voice than to include it in the main gimmick's sounds.
There are three buttons - in, out, and sound effects. So even though the voice does sometimes play after the droids come out, various battle sounds can play at the push of that button, and random blaster fire and explosion sounds play randomly when the buttons haven't been pushed for a while.

The TVC Battle Droid looks way different from the MTT versions, which are surprisingly identical to each other.
How so? Apart from the weathering and length of the neck, to me they look really close. The faces of the MTT droids look a little longer in the photo, but that's just due to how they're positioned there. Accounting for the stand and the length of the neck, they're all essentially the same size. I tried to capture it in the photo but was surprised how different it looked - maybe the close-up emphasizes differences that aren't nearly as noticeable in person.

Snowtrooper

10-25-2012, 11:14 PM

Target had a buy one get one 1/2 off a few weeks ago, so I got one for myself and one for my brother. It was regularly $130, so it came out to a little over $100 for each of them by the time you added taxes in. I didn't think that was too bad of a deal. I definitely wasn't going to pay $180 buck for it. I just got it yesterday, but haven't opened it yet to see if I like it or not. Going by your review JJL, its probably about what I expected.

JediTricks

10-30-2012, 06:17 PM

Ah, I shot them on my phone so that must be it. I've fixed them now.My niece's phone does the same thing, I just saw that happen last night.

The figures could normally have the backpacks on while their necks are lowered, and the figures in the photo do have their necks lowered, though not 100% since that causes the heads to point forward and I wanted to have them facing a little bit downward. I'm not quite sure what you mean about the ankles - I can't swing their pelvises forward due to the leg design and how the thigh interacts with the shin, and their feet are where they are due to the pegs being there. I guess I could swing them back using their ankles as pivot points, keeping their feet where they are but rotating them a bit, but the space factor would still be an issue. As you can see in the photo, they're pretty squished in there due to rack's length, so adding the backpacks is just not gonna happen due to the space. The only droids I could possibly fit the backpacks on are the ones at the back of each group of four - there just isn't space between the others, no matter how I position them (unless they're standing).I'll attach an image of what I mean:
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See, with the figure transformed more, the overhead footprint takes up much less space - the ankles are bent further forward which brings the pelvis closer to the feet. I'd only use 1 footpeg instead of both.

There are three buttons - in, out, and sound effects. So even though the voice does sometimes play after the droids come out, various battle sounds can play at the push of that button, and random blaster fire and explosion sounds play randomly when the buttons haven't been pushed for a while.I understand, the Republic Attack Shuttle and AT-TE I think are the same way, but I prefer it without the voices at the end, that should be about the play choice.

How so? Apart from the weathering and length of the neck, to me they look really close. The faces of the MTT droids look a little longer in the photo, but that's just due to how they're positioned there. Accounting for the stand and the length of the neck, they're all essentially the same size. I tried to capture it in the photo but was surprised how different it looked - maybe the close-up emphasizes differences that aren't nearly as noticeable in person.The torso shape is considerably different, the TVC torso is shorter and rounder, the lower box is thinner top to bottom, that's what I locked into when I said that.

happy

11-08-2012, 08:28 PM

If you are still looking to get the MTT, I took the TRU toy catalog to Walmart and they honored the $50 off coupon.

I was able to get the MTT for $80. I don't know if it would work for every Walmart, but it seems worth a shot.